Primary menu

A Vow Of Vengeance:Your loved one is murdered. You have the will — and the skill — to do something about it. Do you want justice … or revenge? For Jackson Stone, a Nashville advertising executive, former Marine and avid outdoorsman, his journey to answer that question begins with an extraordinary press conference to announce his deadly intentions in this fictional true-crime thriller. The sensational comments quickly go viral, Continue reading →

About the author:Veteran sports writer and copy editor Tom Wood has covered a wide variety of events—ranging from Nashville universities to boxing, from the Iroquois Memorial Steeplechase to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games—for The Tennessean, where he also wrote a number of entertainment features. After his retirement from that newspaper, he has continued to contribute freelance articles for several news outlets. He had a fiction short story published Continue reading →

What readers are saying…:“As a former newspaperman and a Nashville resident, I especially enjoyed the book because of its reporter protagonist and its Music City setting. The plot is believable, provides action and suspense, and the characters are well-defined. It also offers insight into how the media functions that “civilians” should find interesting. It’s a good, quick read and I enjoyed it.” —Larry Woody, a former Tennessean sports Continue reading →

The Mid-January 2018 Edition

New year brings great events, terrible memories

Another chapter has come to a close in the darkest, saddest, ugliest — and yes, most evil — sports story I ever covered when I was a boxing writer for The Tennessean. Billy Ray Collins Sr., a Golden Gloves champion and pro boxing contender, died on Tuesday, Jan. 9, in Nashville at age 80. Services re Saturday, Jan. 13.

But the tragedy of the family’s story was what happened on June 16, 1983 to son “Irish” Billy Collins who followed in his dad’s boxing footsteps. Young Collins was a rising star with a 14-0 record when he stepped into the ring at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden for a 10-round fight against lightly regarded puncher Luis Resto.

The elder Collins, seen kneeling in the first photo, trained his son and was working the corner that night. Collins, a tough kid, wasn’t knocked down but absorbed a terrible beating. A mugging. For 10 rounds. It turned out that Resto’s gloves had been tampered with and half of the horsehair padding removed. Resto, trained by the controversial Panama Lewis, said in 2008 that his hand wraps had been dipped in plaster.

About midway through the fight, Irish Billy told his father “It feels like he’s hitting me with rocks.” Collins Sr., became suspicious and after Resto’s win was announced, the father went to shake hands in the middle of the ring. He felt the doctored glove and grabbed Resto’s arm, shouting for ringside officials to check the gloves. After subsequent investigations, the fight was declared “no contest.” Billy’s eye injuries were so severe that he was never able to box again. Both Resto and Lewis were convicted and served time.

I wasn’t at the fight, but covered the story and ensuing trials from Nashville via telephone interviews. Billy Jr., died in a car crash in 1984. Now, father and son are reunited again, and I hope both have found a peace that eluded them on earth.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. They were the feel-good Titans after securing their first playoff berth in 14 years with a 15-10 victory over the Jaguars in the season finale, and the Bad/Good Titans when they rallied to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 22-21 in the wild-card round of the NFL Playoffs. But they were the Ugly Titans when they fell 35-14 to the New England Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Then things got even uglier when, just a day earlier of publicly supporting him, the Titans abruptly fired coach Mike Mularkey, saying the team and coach disagreed on what it would take to get the Titans to the next level. Hope they find the right man. Nashville deserves a winner and a winning team.

January 18 is the long-awaiteddebut of the Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom project, located at 5724 River Road just off Charlotte Pike. I interviewed Ray for the Ledger during the construction process, and now his dream is about to come to fruition.

“This whole process has been a real labor of love for me,” the country music and comedic legend said in a recent press release. “It took some time to get the building fully constructed and iron out all the kinks but I’m thrilled to say we’re finally ready to open the doors to the public. We’d hoped to open last year… but better late than never!

“This is a uniquely Nashville facility that celebrates the city and the industry I love and that has been so very good to me.”

The CabaRay is a 700-seat state-of-the-art facility that pays tribute to the past glories of Music City – the producers, musicians, songwriters and artists – and also boasts a recording studio, gift shop, piano bar and many other features. We attended a dress rehearsal / VIP event the other night, and Ray put on a quality show.

Billed as an old-fashioned, Las Vegas-style supper club, Stevens will perform Thursday-Saturday in the main room, Dinner service is included for the 500 fans who are seated downstairs, and 200-plus can be seated upstairs for the show only.

61 thoughts on “The Mid-January 2018 Edition”

Comment navigation

From Kathi Ford:
As a new subscriber to the CFR newsletter I have read with interest your country legends of the past articles. My mother’s scrapbook is full of clippings from the late 1940’s about Elton Britt. What can you tell me about him?
And Tom’s reply:
Hope you’re enjoying the CFR newsletter, Kathi. Gotta admit I’m more familiar with Elton John than Elton Britt. But I will do an article on the legend of Mr. Britt in the near future. Thanks for bringing him to my attention.

I got this note the other day from reader/author Turner French, thought I’d share:

When I picked up Vendetta Stone, I didn’t realized I’d signed up for an all-nighter! Great characterization and plotting kept me awake until the end. It was a stone-cold good book!
Warning: don’t pick up this novel and expect to be able to put it down until the last page. To paraphrase from your work, “Thou shalt not pass up this great read.”